The present disclosure generally relates to electrolyzers including electrodes made of nanoporous oxide-coated conducting material. The electrolyzers are capable of generating gases from aqueous solutions through hydrolysis and other electrochemical reactions. Particularly, in one embodiment, the electrolyzer is capable of generating hydrogen and oxygen from an aqueous solution through water electrolysis.
Thermodynamically, a specific voltage is required to split water to form hydrogen and oxygen. Due to kinetic limitations and activation energies, the actual potential required to split water, however, is greater than the thermodynamic potential. The additional energy requirement to perform the reaction is referred to as the overpotential. The overpotential depends on the catalyst used and/or the electrode materials used in the reaction chamber.
Accordingly, it has been conventionally desirable to find materials that are able to split water with a very low overpotential. Precious metals such as, for example, platinum, are generally considered to have the lowest overpotential.
Given the cost of these precious metals, it would be desirable to find alternative materials and catalysts to lower the overpotential for water oxidation.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art to develop materials able to split water with a very low overpotential. More generally, it would be advantageous to develop alternative materials and catalysts to lower the overpotential for various hydrolysis reactions. These materials may be broadly applicable to reduce the cost of electrode material and to develop alternative energy sources.